2006 Philadelphia Flower Show

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This year's theme: Enchanted Spring - A Tribute to Mother Nature. A theme no doubt ripped from a Prep School Senior prom.

Despite the dubious intentions of this years theme, the 2006 flower show redefined the term: Flora Abunda. The main exhibit of "Natura", at 25 feet high and 60 feet long is the largest sculpture ever created entirely from living plants. At that size, it's nearly impossible to take a non-blurry, and way underexposed picture of this exhibit.

Perennial Flower Show favorite was a mix of gorgeous flower arrangements and their “Wild Things,” which are wacky metal sculptures of people and animals. My picture simply does notconvey the quirky style of this display, it is one of those things you have to see for yourself.

A winter white exhibit entitled “Fire & Ice,” uses a white, snowy backdrop to illuminate fiery tulips of crimson, orange and yellow. Yes! Finally I managed to take some decent pictures of an exhibit!

Even the Philadelphia Zoo participates in the Flower Show. This year's exhibit features a life-size replica of an Amur tiger, the largest species of tiger in the world. This display is promoting the Zoo’s soon-to-open “Big Cat Falls,” a state-of-the-art, naturalistic new home to more than a dozen big cats.

This show is a huge tourist draw for Philadelphia, every year the show seems to grow a bit more crowed. This is a good thing in my book, although trying to take the perfect picture while elbowing your fellow tourists out of the way does not inspire good will and brotherly love.

If you are interested in surrounding yourself with all this flora abunda, while having your nerves remain relatively intact, I strongly suggest visiting on the last day of the show. Plan on arriving 3 hours before closing, this will leave you ample time to explore all the exhibits while the bulk of the visitors are leaving the exhibit.

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